The ambiguity of play - Sutton-Smith, Brian (Harvard University Press, 1997)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-271) and index
1. Play and Ambiguity -- 2. Rhetorics of Animal Progress -- 3. Rhetorics of Child Play -- 4. Rhetorics of Fate -- 5. Rhetorics of Power -- 6. Rhetorics of Identity -- 7. Child Power and Identity -- 8. Rhetorics of the Imaginary -- 9. Child Phantasmagoria -- 10. Rhetorics of Self -- 11. Rhetorics of Frivolity -- 12. Conclusion
Sutton-Smith focuses on play theories rooted in seven distinct "rhetorics"--The ancient discourses of fate, power, communal identity, and frivolity and the modern discourses of progress, the imaginary, and the self. In a sweeping analysis that moves from the question of play in child development to the implications of play for the Western work ethic, he explores the values, historical sources, and interests that have dictated the terms and forms of play put forth in each discourse's "objective" theory